2. i am resourceful. i have thrived with minimal nutriment. i have made bounties of cracked skies, brittle trees, nappy hair, one millimeter of fresh air. i have conjured surplus of ostracization and simultaneous pedestalization; abundance of disgust and simultaneous inquiry.

7. i hold space. i heal. i envelop. i scare silence into making itself known. i push back veils. i inflict the injury, i apply pressure to the wound, i summon the blood, and leave before the scab occurs.

6. i am intelligent even when i confuse myself. i am intelligent even when i confound others. i am an interrogator, a synthesizer, a vessel in which polarities feel safe enough to coalesce. my intelligence, in another existent octave, is what renders me a portal. i know i carry silent pasts and triumphant futures. no wonder i am so heavy. no wonder i am so muddled. no wonder i require respite.